Switched Stripes
by veronica.toon.7
Summary: "Good evening, brother," came a silky voice in the dark, yet sent the fur on his back on end. His head quickly scanned through the night, soon finding the owner of the voice right on top of the wall surrounding the palace.
**My first Aladdin and Jungle Book story. Yay! I got this idea after looking at some pictures separately of Rajah and Shere Khan online a lo this idea came to me. Just a weird, controversial thing that came out of the blue.**

 **I own nothing. Aladdin and the Jungle Book and both their content belong to Disney. I don't own the cover image either.**

 **Enjoy the story!**

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One might not think that the desert could ever be cool, much less even freezing, but once the scorching sun set below the horizon over the sands of the barren wasteland, it became a much different world. The lack of much flora made for less trapping of the day's heat, thus making it grow to bitterly cold temperatures once the sunlight was extinguished. Still, life made its way into the seemingly desolate ecosystem. Nocturnal creatures, no longer held back by the blazing prison of the daylight were now free to come awake and alive in the world of darkness.

One such creature, though not necessarily one of the desert origin, took on prowl tonight. His legs swiftly, yet silently took him through the abandoned and empty streets of the two-leg's civilization. The moonlight accented his movements, elongating his shadow as he occasionally passed through places where it touched the ground between the brick adobes. He paid no heed to any of them, nor the slumbering humans or livestock inside.

His yellow eyes focused ahead where a great wall surrounding an even bigger open area with his endgoal was inside. His form hunkered down as he grww close, though his breathing and movements were quiet, not to disturb the two asleep guards on duty before the gate. Her had no interest to tangle with any of them, but his attention to get inside or to be able to look inside and see his goal was definite. He would not take that path thugh.

Eyes darting back and forth, he soon saw an aid for his entering. The wall was too tall and too smooth for him to try to jump or climb up at all, but several overturned crates and even a cart used by domesticated livestock pulling to transport items, or at least he had heard rumors of. However, he had no intention of staying longer then he needed to be, so he decided not to well on small thoughts.

His hips swayed as he lowered himself down and prepared to thrust his legs back. In a second, he bounded forward, leaping her upon the crates, then to the wooden cart before almost flying up and just barely grasping the edge of the wall with one of his paws. His claws shot out as he dug them into the grey wall. Every muscles in his front legs burned as he gradually pulled himself up to the top. Satisfied at his accomplishment, his eyes squinted through the night and narrowed at the sight before him.

On the other side of the fence was an entirely different place. Replacing sand and coarse dirt was recently polished concrete, marble and grass with plenty of trees sticking out. As such was a place for the royal, governing body of this land was supposed to be. His streamlined, yet muscled form stalked quietly towards a tree that grew right up to the wall where he dipped into the shadows its top branches cast on the stone.

Across the grass inside the wall was another tiger, same as himself. His form was less impressive then his own, but didn't betray the fact that he was well fed, groomed and cared for. The tiger's gait was slow as he walked through the night, allowing the cool, night air to soothe his aching muscles of being in the basting sun all throughout the day. The soft grass tickled his paw pads as he moved gracefully through the night, allowing the sense of peace and tranquility to flow through and relax him.

"Good evening, brother," came a silky voice in the dark, yet sent the fur on his back on end. His head quickly scanned through the night, searching for the owner of the familiar tone. He soon found it, right between the wall and tree that grew right up against it, and partially hidden in the shadow.

"Khan," he answered, trying hard to keep his voice just as calm and civil as his. The tiger's lips quirked partially up, revealing a particularly toothy smirk. His head moved slightly forward and into the pale light cast by the moon, revealing the face of the majestic Bengal tiger.

"Dear younger brother, why do you live in this large cage they have put you in? Perhaps it is nor ropes that ensnare you or the metal rods that encase you inside, but it is a cage none the less. Why do you allow yourself to be ordered and bossed around these pathetic men and such, when you could be free and masterless in the wild?"

"You know I can't quite imagine why you would choose to live this... this overheated prison. My, my, my, this land makes the jungle seem like a perfectly temperate paradise compared to this," he commented. "Still, even with the benefits this place provides, the rainforest has proven time and time again to be the ideal place for tigers such as you and I to live in."

"I prefer my life here," came the simple reply. Rajah's face didn't even come up to meet his as he spoke. Khan's eye twitched and a snarl started to build up in his throat as he stared down at the tiger sitting right down before him.

"Is that it then? Living a life of seclusion. Forever behind these stone walls that keep your imprisoned. Just think, you choose to stay here and allow life to slip away from you when you could have your freedom in the rainforest like me," he explained, his voice growing more and more strong as he described the independence gained in the jungle. Fo him, it made him feel a deep sense of pride, though as for the other, it sent a spark grinding inside of him.

"I am not like you, Khan," he growled, coming up close to the tree to place his paws up against the bark, "True my life doesn't sound as appealing as yours, compared to the _free_ life you speak of, but I belong here. I have my place in this world, as you have your place in yours. So if this life doesn't match your preferences exact, I suggest you leave now."

Khan's eyes narrowed down at him. Years ago, the tiger below him had been stolen from their mother by a traveling circus, brought to this land where he had been found, bought for and come to live in this palace by the governing family. Many years had passed since they had seen each other last, and in that time they had bothy changed in greatly contrasting ways. Rajah took life in the lap of luxury as the so-called _pet_ of the sultan's daughter while he roamed freely in their homeland. He could not imagine why he would want to stay here, he had even tried to sway his brother in leaving it all behind and coming back with him, but with no avail.

After a moment, his eyes closed, he let out a sigh and shook his head.

"Very well then. Since you're so content being here and have no desire to come back with me, this will be my last visit to you then. Farewell," Khan said. Rajah said nothing, but his eyes followed as his brother's form disappeared over the ridge, down from his head and shoulders to the tip of his tail. He remained still as he heard a thud from over the side of the wall and then the soft crunching of footsteps over the sand before all was silent.

Then he turned and went back towards the palace to spend the rest of the night inside.

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 **Kinda weird for me writing a non-fluffy brotherly fic, but at least I can say now that I've had the experience of doing it. I've learned a bit about Rajah's backstory. Apparently, he was part of a circus before being found and bought for by Princess Jasmine. My theory in this that Rajah was originally kidnapped from his family, including his older brother, Shere Khan. Khan made several attempts to retrieve and bring back his brother over the years, but as time went on and they both grew, both in size and in personality, the visits and the expectations grow shorter and shorter, until where we are now. I know tigers aren't very social in the wild, especially the males, but I like to think perhaps Khan had that one last hope that his brother could be reasoned with, perhaps even be swayed to the ideals he had of the humans, but is disgusted by the fact that his brother had befriended and trusted them. That's the contrasting difference between the two and I suppose that's what drew me to make this story in the first place.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review with some feedback and feel free to check out some of my other stories. Sincerely, v.t.7**


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